The Last Of Us - Alternative Universe
by Mizanity
Summary: 15 years have passed after a death bringing virus called 'Baria' caused the extinction of nearly complete humanity. Together with his partner Durbe, Kaito accepts a mission from V, the head of the Terror Group Arclight, which will change his whole life. [platonic Galaxymaster-, Keyshipping, mentioned Hellshark & KaiDoru, past Sharkbait- & past Meteorshipping]
1. Prolog: The Outbreak

It was one of those slowly cold growing autumnal nights as the world should become a new scary face.  
A little boy with light blue hair was sleeping on a black couch, he was still wearing his everyday clothes though it was only a few minutes before midnight already.  
However, the little boy wasn't even thinking about going to bed before because it was a very special day. He was waiting, for hours. But he didn't lost hope yet. Eventually the fatigue dragged him to sleep and he curled up on the sofa.  
The sound of the door moving suddenly got him up. A surprised short laughter came through his lips and a big smile got its way on his face when finally the older one entered the living room.  
„Hey...", the other one greeted him, smiling softly and joined him on the sofa „Shouldn't you be in bed already, Haruto?"  
„Oh no, how late is it?", Haruto trembled, peering for the clock. It was 10 minutes before midnight.  
„Well, not too late yet.", he cheered, stood up from the sofa and fetched a little white box he was hiding all day long under the coffee table and giving it to his older brother who seemed to be too tired to realize what was happening.  
„Happy Birthday, Nii-san.", Haruto said and smiled.  
Kaito was astounded, Haruto truly would never forget that it was his 20th birthday today.  
„Th-thank you.", he muttered, as he accepted his present and dragged his little brother into a tight hug.  
„What are you waiting for, open it.", Haruto giggled.  
Kaito smiled. „Yeah, okay."  
Carefully he openend the box and he couldn't trust his eyes when he saw a silvern watch covered in black velvet, on its frame the wings of a dragon were engraved. Behind the clock hands he could discover the brand name _Photon_.  
„Do you like it? Your old one was broken, so I thought-"  
„Where did you get it?", Kaito interrupted him and smiled.  
Haruto started to laugh. „Drugs you know? I am dealing with the hardest drugs to get the money."  
Kaito knew it was a joke, obviously Ryouga and Yuuma had given him the money for it, not entirely happy about that but they couldn't reject his little brother's wish to make _him_ happy. And Haruto knew, that Kaito really liked his old watch.  
„Ah, I guess that you can help me to pay the rent.", he joked and both of them fell in a happy laughter.  
They spent a whole while in the living room, Haruto insisted that they spent at least a bit together to celebrate his brother's birthday even though he had to go to school on the next day and both of them were really tired after all.  
It was past 2 a.m. when Kaito lifted Haruto in his arms to bring him to his bed.  
Tomorrow would be an exhausting day again, but as long as Haruto was happy he didn't care about himself. Finally having a home outside of the loud and crowded city was a good decision he made, even though he had a lot to work for giving his brother all he wants.  
For a while Kaito was watching him sleep, cuddling with a little stuffed dragon toy. He smiled, stroked his hair gently and gave him a little good night kiss on his forehead before he was going to his own bedroom.

The loud ringing of the telephone next on his bedside table shook Haruto from his sleep. Tired and completely disoriented he fumbled for the black thing and answered the call with a weary voice.  
„Hello?"  
„Haruto? Can you please give me your brother, it is very urgent-"  
„Ryouga? What is-"  
Suddenly the call broke up. He could only hear the low hoot of the busy tone.

„What is happening here...?", he asked himself. It was pitck-black night outside. How late was it? And what was so urgent that Ryouga Kamishiro called his brother in the middle of the night?  
Still afoul, Haruto was leaving his bedroom and looking for Kaito. On the other end of the floor he was able to hear the television from his brothers room.  
„Nii-san?", he called but nobody answered.  
He followed the noise of the TV and was surprised, that Kaito left his bedroom door open.  
„-that the insurgences from the past few days have a connection to the broken-put pandemia. The infection maintains to increasing aggression and-"  
„We all have to get out of here, gas is leaking."  
„It seems that-"  
„GET OUT!"  
Haruto only noticed casually what the reporters were saying, but he realized the danger just from the explosion he listened to directly happened some miles away from his home in Heartland City.  
Buildings became a sea of flames in front of his eyes.  
Frightened he fell back, a little scream came through his lips as he hit the ground.  
The news channel was interrupted, he could only see the flicker on the TV.  
„Oh my god", Haruto cried, he picked himself up and ran down the stairs to the kitchen.  
Cop cars were driving past their home.  
„Kaito! Kaito, where are you?", Haruto called, feeling tears on his cheeks. He was scared, where was his brother gone?  
He never would leave him. Never.  
Haruto caught a glimpse of a thing blinking on the kitchen table. It was Kaito's mobile phone. No connection and eight missed calls.  
»Where the fuck are you? Call me back. - Ryouga«  
»I'm on my way. - Ryouga.«  
Haruto's hands were shaking when he put the phone back on the table.  
That didn't sound good. He was afraid, but he couldn't stay where he was, he had to find Kaito as soon as he could.

A weird shadow passed the window, which let Haruto shy away. He felt alone and lost.  
Nobody was in the living room. The only room which was left was Kaito's home office. Last chance. Haruto opened the door. Papers were scattered over the floor and somebody left the terrace door open. Could Kaito be outside?  
Haruto was coming nearer to it with caution, he felt like something very dangerous was in the backyard.  
A scream came from the outside and suddenly his brother tripped backwards into the room, shut the door hectically and hurried to his desk.  
„Is everything okay, Haruto?", he asked, his voice was trembling.  
„Err, I guess.", Haruto replied, wiping the tears away.  
He watched Kaito to rummage in the drawers, obviously searching for something until he found it. A little black suitcase Haruto could remember. It was once a present Kaito got from a remote relative he never really wanted, but the fact that he searched for it was giving Haruto another reason to be afraid even more.  
It was a gun. „Did anybody came in when I was away?", Kaito asked bustling.  
„Uhm, I don't know. Who should come in here?", Haruto responded, coming nearer to the door so he could catch a sight but Kaito snapped: „Keep away from the doors!"  
Haruto got frightened by the harsh voice of his older brother, but he was able to see the sorrowful look in his eyes.  
„You scare me, Nii-san. What is happening?", he cried while Kaito was loading the gun with shaking hands.  
„Our... our neighbours. I guess they are _sick_."  
„They are sick? What do y-"  
But Haruto's question was interrupted by a loud weird scream coming from the backyard and a person slamming against the glass door.  
Haruto screamed, blood stained the door and it began to split.  
„Fuck...", Kaito whispered, regretting his words when he saw Haruto's scared face.  
He took position in front of his brother to protect him as good as he could do, levelling the gun at their neighbour who was still slamming himself at the door.  
The man seemed to have lost his complete sanity and he was covered in blood. A horror picture he never could imagine to become reality before.  
„Everything is okay, everything is okay...", he could hear Haruto mumbling, trying to calm himself and his brother down.  
„Stay back!", Kaito shouted, but the man he knew as a kind elementary school teacher didn't listen.  
He finally made his way _directly_ through the door into the room, falling down on his knees.  
„I am warning you-"  
The man leaped up and tried to attack Kaito but the older Tenjou reacted fast and shoot the insane in the head. Haruto screamed and covered his eyes.  
Kaito grabbed his brother's hands and dragged him back into the living room.  
„Y-you shot him, Nii-san!"  
„Haruto..."  
„I saw him this morning."  
„Listen. Something really severe is going on. We have to get out, do you understand?"  
Haruto nodded, he stopped trying to get rid off the tears on his face. They burned on his skin, but the horrifieng things which happened in the last seconds burned themselves into his mind and he couldn't stop crying.  
Headlights from a car were shining through the kitchen windows, a sign that somebody arrived.  
„It's Ryouga. Let's go.", Kaito said and carried his little brother outside.  
„Damn it, where the hell were you all the time? Do you know what's going on?", Ryouga snapped, leaving an adress of welcome out.  
He was there with Yuuma who clinged on Ryouga's arm, both of them seemed to be as afraid as Kaito and Haruto were, too.  
„I have an idea...", Kaito replied harshly. „We must not loose a second here, let's go."  
Yuuma opened the backdoor of the van with which they came to pick the Tenjous up and helped Haruto to climb in, then he joined the young boy on the back seat.  
„Fuck, where does all the blood come from?", Ryouga mentioned when he saw Kaito's clothing. It was soaked in blood. „Not mine. Just – let's go.", he muttered, throwing himself on the front passenger's seat.  
„Apparently everyone in the city is going crazy. Something like a parasite.", Ryouga told them.  
„Can we _please_ leave now.", Kaito demanded him, Ryouga omitted his reply this time and started the motor.  
„Haruto, how are you?", Yuuma asked and tried to smile to give the youngest some comfort back.  
„Good good.", Haruto replied. _According to the circumstances_.  
„Can you please turn on the radio?", he asked.  
„Sure.", Ryouga replied and pushed the button of the radio.  
„Thank you."  
Nothing happened.  
Ryouga sighed. „No mobile, no radio... yeah, everything is alright. The narrator just palavered some minutes ago."  
„Where will we go?", Kaito asked him.  
„He said something about the army assembling road barriers."  
Haruto's glance wandered out. Families were packing hectically supplies and blankets into their cars. Everything became a chaos.  
They were driving outbound lane.  
„No entry to Heartland City."  
„We have to leave as fast as we can. The Highway.", Kaito ordered him.  
„I had the same idea.", Ryouga mumbled.  
In the meantime Yuuma dragged Haruto on his lap, stroking his hair so the child could calm down.  
Cop cars were hurrying with full alarm into town.  
Ryouga turned to the other direction.  
It seemed that Ryouga and Yuuma knew more about what happened in the city and he needed more assurance about what was going on.  
„How many people died?", he asked Yuuma.  
The young black haired man tried to escape Haruto's view, glancing to his boyfriend.  
„Many people. A family laid totally torn to pieces in their-"  
„_Ryouga, stop it._", Kaito snapped.  
„Sorry.", Ryouga mumbled and gave his full attention back to driving.  
A car had crashed into a street lamp at a crossroad. It was so dark that they couldn't see if the driver was still there – or if the person was still alive.  
„How could this happen...?", Haruto sobbed, Yuuma hold him closer.  
„Nobody knows it. At first it seemed to be just the south, but now they are talking about that it is nearly everywhere.", he replied honestly.  
Ryouga turned to the left on a country road. They were passing a burning Shinto shrine near the road. „Holy...", he muttered.  
Haruto felt how panic and fear started to cord up his throat.  
„Are we sick?", he stammered.  
„No. No, we aren't, Haruto.", Kaito tried to calm him down.  
„How do you know that, Nii-san?" He knew it was a lie to make him feel better.  
„They said the people in the city are. Not us."  
Haruto was silent for a second. But then he demanded: „Wasn't the school where Kabayama-san worked in the city?"  
Kaito held off for a moment, though he acknowledged his brother's notice. He was talking about their neighbour he shot just minutes ago.  
„Everything is alright. Trust me.", he whispered, but his voice was still unsure.  
They noticed a family near the road, their car seemed to be broken; the adults waving and crying for help. Ryouga drove slower, intended to stop.  
"What the hell are you doing there! Drive on!", Kaito snapped immediately.  
"They have a child.", Ryouga replied, but his opponent didn't seemed not to care.  
"Same for _us_."  
"But we still have room for them, Nii-san.", Haruto replied, trying to convince his brother to help. But Kaito got the control over Ryouga completely to ignore the obviously helpless people.  
"I've seen more than you... There is someone else who will come for their rescue.", he said harshly.  
"We should have helped them.", Haruto muttered and drooped.  
"Shh, it is okay.", Yuuma said softly and stroked his hair, but giving Kaito a dark glare.  
The older one seemed to understand, his serious face changed to sorrow.  
An ambulance was passing them, driving insanely fast to the other direction with an ear-battering sound and blinking emergency lights.  
Finally they left the darkness of the country roads behind – but the picture they got was not a sign of serendipity.  
The drive-up to the Highway was crowded, red backlights of thousands of cars were shining towards them. They were stuck.  
"_Fuck._ Every idiot has the same bloody idea.", Ryouga cussed, driving slower and looking for a sign that they could get out of this, but there was no chance than going back.  
They could hear a rescue helicopter flying over.  
"We should go back. There must be another way out of this.", Kaito said with a trembling voice.

In front of them a man exited his car and complained about the traffic jam. "Hey assholes, what the fuck is your proble-" Suddenly a man ran to him and tossed him against the car, a guttural scream and the sound of ripping flesh mixed itself with the hooting cars.  
Another of those insane people climbed into the car and attacked the co-driver.  
"Oh my..."  
Ryouga swore; the man who just killed a person in front of their eyes ran towards their van, ready to attack. As fast as he could Ryouga turned the car around, with creaking tyres he nearly rushed away. They heard the insane man bumping against the back of the car, but they could escape. For a moment.  
"What the fuck, did you see that?!", he bellowed, his face showed an expression full of panic. "Yes, I did.", Kaito replied chiefly. "Now turn here.", he added when Ryouga was about to just go back. However they were stuck in a blind alley of people running in their direction. A caravan blocked half of the street, the street was nearly impassable.  
"No... no no no no...!", Kaito cried silently as they had to slow down.  
"What are they escaping from?", Haruto asked, frightened.  
"Get us out from here.", Kaito whispered to Ryouga whereupon the other snapped back "I'm fucking trying…"  
"We cannot stop here, Ryouga!" - "I cannot drive through them, Kaito." - "Then turn back!" - "There are people, too!"  
Haruto felt how Yuuma's embrace became tighter and he turned him around so Haruto's sight was blocked. It seemed that Yuuma didn't want him to see those horrible things outside and Haruto was thankful.  
Unfortunately he couldn't blend out the screams and sounds of death.  
Finally the small passage was free and Ryouga gave full throttle and tried his best to pass the street.  
Suddenly a bright light showed up from the left. "BE CAREFUL!", Yuuma screamed but it was too late.  
The other car crashed into them and everything turned black.

Blurred screams and the sizzling noise of open fire was the first thing Kaito could hear when he woke up.  
"Nii-san... Nii-san?"  
The van was laying on the side, the windscreen was badly damaged. He could barely see how one of those mad driven people ripped out the organs of the dead driver to whom they crashed together. The picture made him sick. Kaito blinked, his body ached terribly when he tried to move. "Everything is okay, Haruto...", he heard Yuuma saying, the boy was still in the back of the car, holding his little brother. Slowly his survival instincts came back to his mind and Kaito started to kick the windscreen to free themselves of the car wreck.  
Not even a second after he stood up a man completely covered in blood kicked him back on the ground, a horrible sound came out of his throat. _That guy tried to bite him with his bloody teeth._  
Kaito wasn't able to realise what was happening until Ryouga battered him down with a brick.  
"Fuck! Are you alright?", he asked, shaking.  
Kaito didn't hesitate a second longer, he passed the gun he was holding all the time to Ryouga and answered: "Please take it. I will help Haruto and Yuuma out of this."  
His opponent nodded absently, still shivering. He took the weapon and got in position to give them backing.  
Kaito crawled back into the wreck and freed Yuuma and Haruto from safety belt.  
They seemed to be alright, but their clothes and faces were full of dirt and scratches.  
"Thank you, Kaito.", Yuuma smiled, but suddenly his smile changed to pain. "Ahhh...", he hissed, holding his arm.  
"Yuuma-kun!", Haruto cried. "It is okay, Haruto. Nothing bad, I guess I just have a bad bruise.", the black haired boy replied and moved his arm a bit, they could see his pain on his face.  
Kaito dragged his little brother onto his arms and carried him out of the car, Yuuma followed him, whimpering because of the pain in his arm.  
They were hearing a shot and a dead body covered in blood fell in front of Kaito's view when he climbed out of the broken window. Instantly he covered his brother's eyes, but Haruto had seen the horrifying image already.  
"Everything is okay with you guys?", Ryouga asked.  
Yuuma acknowledged but mentioned his injury.  
"We have to get out of here as soon as possible."  
"Nii-san.", Haruto yelped, when his brother let him down. He clung on his older brother's coat, as if he couldn't hold himself on his own legs.  
"What is wrong, Haruto?", Kaito asked but he already could guess what was wrong and that cracked his hope even more.  
"My leg hurts."  
"How much does it ache?"  
"It is _really painful._"  
Kaito felt how a lump came up in his throat. It seemed the accident had cause Haruto to break his leg. He didn't waste another second and picked him up.  
"Run!", he demanded and with Haruto on his arms they followed the people who tried to escape from those _monsters_ which were once human.  
Kaito could feel his brother's heart beating against his chest.  
Everything around them became a hell within seconds. They were running down the streets; from the corner of his eyes Kaito could see how a car crashed into a gas station and the whole building exploded. People were screaming and those who were not fast enough were kicked to the ground and bitten.  
They turned right into a back road. An apartment building on the left was completely in flames, but Kaito could still see people there, burning to death. He felt totally sick, his eyes watered from tears caused by the smoke and all the fear in his heart.  
"They are burning, Nii-san. The people are burning...", Haruto whispered in shock.  
"Don't look at them. Just... don't look. Close your eyes.", he replied, tears were falling down his cheeks, pressing his little brother tighter to his chest.  
Everywhere was blood and fire, immersing the night in orange light.  
And the screams.  
"Here!", Ryouga shouted, checking if they were still following him.  
There was an abandoned police block in front of them, the monsters could have overrun it just some hours ago. The cop cars were empty.  
Another car from another back road rolled down the street and crashed into one of those cop cars, causing another explosion. Probably there was gas leaking.  
The people fell back and a bunch of them were caught by the monsters.  
"In the alley!", Ryouga demanded, pointing at a little alleyway which was protected by a huge fence. The fence door was open, luckily. They ran and Ryouga shut the door, locking it hectically. One of the monsters tried to attack Yuuma but his boyfriend shot him down. Even though Ryouga never used a gun in his life, he was pretty good in sighting.  
"Come on!"  
On the right two insane driven creatures were pressing against the fence. Kaito wasn't able to hide the horrible view from Haruto.  
He wished he could.  
Suddenly a warning sound got their attention – the monsters managed it to break the door and following them _way too fast_.  
"SHIT!"  
There was a back door of an abandoned bar on the right. Ryouga slammed himself against the wood and luckily it gave in.  
Yuuma and Kaito followed him into the bar. Chairs were scattered around the floor, two corpses were lying on the floor, their upper part of their bodies were ripped off and the whole floor was covered in blood. But there was no time to care about the horror.  
Ryouga slammed the door and called on them to leave the bar. "I am faster than you guys, take care of Haruto and RUN!"  
"But-"  
Yuuma wanted to gainsay Ryouga but he interrupted him: "I said RUN!"  
With a glance full of sorrow he followed Kaito on the streets. The monsters were on the door. Hopefully Ryouga would manage it to escape. If not, there was no time for a goodbye.  
He knew that bar, one year ago he was there sometimes with Ryouga. Kaito wasn't the man who liked going out to drink something, but with Ryouga it was something different. However, his new job didn't give him the time for himself anymore.  
And now as the world turned into pure chaos...  
"Yuuma, here.", he demanded the younger one to follow him to a parking area in front of them. There was only a small wall separating them from the Highway.  
If they would reach it he could save Haruto. His brother was whimpering silently in his arms, his leg must still hurt and all those impressions in his head must scare him to death.  
"Haruto, we'll be safe soon. Just a little more..."  
The wall was damaged – down the small hill an ambulance crashed into a rock, its lights were immersing the slope.  
Yuuma and Kaito stumbled down the muddy grass. Kaito remembered that there must be a little river they had to cross.  
Where was Ryouga?

He had no choice, he couldn't go back to search for him until Haruto wasn't safe yet.  
Again the weird howl of those insane creatures was behind them and Yuuma yelped, trying to draw aside from his attacker when suddenly multiple shots from a machine gun killed the thing.  
Confused to realise what happened and numb from the loudness of the gun they looked up to the full armed soldier, pointing with the flash of his machine gun at Kaito.  
"Stay back!", the soldier demanded.  
"I... we are on the run! Everything is okay. We are... not sick.", Kaito blurted out, his voice flipped over.  
The soldier didn't move his gun, but he called someone with his wireless receiving set: "Sir, I have three refugees here. They are unarmed."  
Kaito couldn't hear the reply.  
"But... Sir, they have a child."  
Kaito's blood suddenly ran cold.  
The soldier sighed sorrowful. "Understood, Sir."  
He could feel the the soldiers' pity when he levelled his gun again on them.  
"Nii-san...", Haruto whispered.  
"Fuck", Kaito cried out and drew aside when the shots fired on them, Haruto and Yuuma were screaming and they fell ruggedly on the ground.  
He could hear his little brother sobbing. A blinding light focused his face, he could barely see the gun barrel pointing at his head.  
"FU-!"  
A shot from behind killed the solder. "Kaito! Yuuma!"  
This familiar voice. It was Ryouga.  
"Fuck. God bless I arrived in time, holy shit. That could have gone really bad.", the young man panted.  
"Haruto!", Kaito cried, his whole body ached of fear, he picked himself up and hurried to his brother who was still bent double in the grass and sobbed loudly.  
"Haruto... Haruto..."  
Everything was so surreal. His view was blurry from the tears; he picked Haruto up carefully – and his breath suddenly stopped when he saw all the blood soaking his brother's clothing.  
"No-"  
This couldn't be real. This must have been a bad dream.  
A really bad dream which was supernaturally realistic. His heart stopped.  
This...  
"No!"  
The tears were burning on his face, bitter tears of despair.  
Haruto clung weakly on his arms, sobbing loudly full of pain.  
"Kaito... what is... oh dear god."  
Yuuma fell silent when he behold the tragedy, loosing ground.  
"Nii-san...", Haruto sobbed, every second made his grip weaker. "N-nii-san..."  
His voice was scarcely audible.  
"Don't be scared, you hear me, Haruto? W-we are there soon, and then we will get a doctor for you, okay? Please... please...", Kaito begged, the pain in his heart got worse with every syllable.  
He pressed his fingers on the bleeding wound, as if he could stop it that easily.  
"Nii-san..."  
"Please stay with me... please, Haruto.", Kaito sobbed loudly, holding Haruto's little hands.  
"Nii... san... _d-d-_"  
"Haruto..."  
"_Dai... daisu... ki, Nii-san_.", Haruto whispered. Then suddenly his sobbing stopped and his traits eased, leaving a _deadly_ smile.  
"Haru- no! NO!"  
Kaito's legs gave in, he fell down on his knees.  
"Haruto... Haruto, please... don't leave me... please..."  
His light was extinct.

_Und somit starb das Licht seiner Seele._

»The number of confirmed victims is over two hundred. The governor declared the state of emergency, which limits entry and departure from Japan.«  
»It was unbelievable. Thousands of dead people laying on the streets, panic is spreading all over the world since a classified record of the WHO tells that the updated vaccination trials didn't work.«  
»With the disempowerment of the democracy we are able to make the right decisions for this country to protect our citizen.«  
»Los Angeles now belongs to the cities under martial war.«  
»Every citizen has to register at their belonging quarantine zone in the time of 72 hours.«  
»After three days in a row rebellions rule the quarantine zones and winter stocks are running short.«  
»A group which calls themselves _ARCLIGHT _take responsibility for both attacks on the government.«  
»It came to demonstrations after the execution of six alleged supporters of _ARCLIGHT_.«

"You can still rise with us. When you are lost in the darkness... search for the light. Give faith into ARCLIGHT." 


	2. Chapter 1: 15 Years Later

It was raining outside. The room was dark, the windows were nailed up with wooden boards, so the little bit of sunlight wasn't able to brighten up the room. It was silent, only the sound of rain disturbed it. _It could have been peaceful._  
Suddenly a fast knocking on a door some rooms away from this dark place got him up ungently. A low groan came out of his throat when he left the rough-and-ready bed, calling: "I'm on my way."  
His head was aching badly. What time was it? He felt sick, and his mind was cloudy. Something was there... he had forgotten.  
When he unlocked the door and opened it, everything came suddenly back.  
"Ne Kaito. How was your morning so far?", the man with this special silver hair greeted him with a tongue-in-cheek, walking past him directly to the simple table next to the window and pouring some of the whiskey he left the day before there into a glass.  
"Want some too?" he asked.  
Kaito closed the door and refused the offer, grabbing a clean towel and made it a bit wet when he saw the bruise on Durbe's cheek.  
The other one sipped on the drink.  
Durbe was Kaito's partner. They met some years ago when they both had the same trouble with a group of other smugglers and since then they've decided to work together. They complemented one another well in their work.  
Durbe was one of the refugees from South America, who came to Japan just a few months before the Baria Virus spread everywhere over the world.  
He didn't really look like a Peruvian – he had grey eyes, a light-coloured skin tone, short silver-greyish hair and was wearing glasses most of the time. But his origin was obvious, his accent was clearly in evidence.  
"I have interesting news-"

"Where have you _been_, Durbe?" Kaito interrupted him with a severe voice and folded his arms.  
Durbe leaned against the desk and sipped again on his whiskey, before he replied: "West-End District. Hey, we had a delivery."  
"_We_."  
Kaito came closer towards Durbe, nearly tossing the towel at him. "_We_ had a delivery."  
Durbe gave him a little judging glance, folded the towel and hold the wet part on his bruise before he said: "Your problem. You wanted to be alone, remember?"  
Kaito turned around, leant on the sideboard and snapped: "Okay, let me guess: Everything failed and our customer has the pills. Am I right?" With his last rant he looked back to his partner.  
Durbe giggled, put his whisky glass back on the table and pulled out a block of slightly green paper cards.  
"Everything went how it was planned. Those food ration cards will be enough for six months.", he said and threw them on the desk.  
Kaito was unimpressed.  
"And what is that on your cheeks?", he pointed out.  
Durbe sighed. "I was on my way back when some _cabrones_ attacked me, okay?"  
Whenever he used vulgar words he said them in Spanish. Because Japanese was a _lengua para vainazas_, a _language for wimps_ in his words.  
"Yeah... those two staggered me..."  
When he saw Kaito's glance he tried to defend himself: "It was not a big deal."  
Kaito ignored his explanations, took the towel from his hands and gave him a silent command to show him his bruise.  
A soft smile showed up on Durbe's lips when Kaito carefully cleaned his wound.  
Kaito was cold, rude and a brutal man. But he was caring and could be soft. When he wanted to of course and that wasn't often.  
"Are those assholes still alive?", he asked.  
"Very funny, Kaito.", Durbe muttered and gave him a smile.  
"Do you know who those assholes were at least?", Kaito said, still holding his hand on Durbe's chin.  
"No, they were just two assholes and they don't matter."

Durbe slapped Kaito's hand away and straightened up, so he was taller than Kaito again.  
"What really matters is that Edward sent out those tramps."

Kaito stopped for a second in his move.  
"You mean... Edward Heartland. This Edward.", he asked, puzzled.  
Durbe nodded. "He knows about that we are searching for him. Simply tries to forestall us."  
"That scumbag thinks he is clever, huh?", Kaito laughed and threw the towel back on the sideboard.  
"Pfft. I know where he is hiding his ass. In the warehouse in Area Five. But who knows for how long.", Durbe replied and folded his arms.  
"Well then..."  
Kaito gave him something that _could have been_ once a soft challenging smile.  
"Let's go.", he said and Durbe followed him out of the flat.

The rain had stopped when they left the old row house. Every window was destroyed, garbage littered the back road. The rubbish containers were merciless crowded. Plants were growing licentious on from the broken sidewalks upon the houses' walls. No one cared anymore. Nature was slowly fighting back against humanity.

"Check Point Five might be still open.", Kaito mentioned as they were leaving the street. A few people were outside. It was summer, but it was strangely cold and rainy.  
"Only a few hours left until curfew, we should hurry.", Durbe said and went ahead, Kaito followed him without a word.  
The world had become a silent place. They could listen to every conversation other people had, there was no traffic noise, no crowded places full of people, no music coming out from shops, no crying babies.  
Snipers were positioned on the roofs. There was not a single corner left they couldn't watch.  
Fifteen years have passed and Kaito still couldn't ignore them. The quarantine zones were controlled by a dictatorship of the military. They were locked in them, the outside was a forbidden place. Breaking out was illegal, who was found escaping from the quarantine zone will be killed immediately. And they stopped searching for survivors because there was not enough food and medicine left.  
A big graffiti in red paint decorated the wall next to them – _Search for the Light_. Arclights.  
The major street was nearly empty too. People built up something like a market, but no one was there – a sign that food ran short again.  
And heavily armed soldiers were everywhere. They came across a locked building when soldiers wearing protective suits came out, in front of them four people. Fear was dominating their faces when a female soldier pulled out a special device to check for infections.  
"Clean – Clean – She's infected.", she said with no emotion in her voice. The woman started to cry and begged but the other soldier levelled his weapon. She had to kneel down and the third soldier injected her with a toxin which killed the Barialapis – together with its host.  
After fifteen years humanity hadn't found a vaccine, an alexipharmic against the Baria virus.  
It was not a virus directly. Baria was something like a fungus, but it was far more than that at the same time. It could control the infected.

Kaito knew about its five stadia – From infection to death. And all of them were a horrible deformation of a human being.  
In their third stadium they called them Barian. Blind, surreal monsters with fangs of nearly 1 ½ inch, laced with burning hot glowing gems which controlled their body, their skin hardened and had different shades of dull colours. They were beautiful in a very different way but it was the beauty of death and suffering.  
The fourth man panicked and tried to escape but the soldiers didn't waste a second and shot him down.

One of the men left cried out, but the soldier commanded him to shut up. The house was known to be insecure and the soldiers did everything to curtail every possible place for the Barialapis spreading.  
"Come.", Durbe whispered and dragged him away. Kaito didn't even realise that he was really watching the execution. A bit confused he followed him to the checkpoint entrance.  
"Probably more infections came up this month.", Durbe established.

"It seems that even more people steal away.", Kaito added.  
They finally arrived at the checkpoint. Armour-plated vehicles left the checkpoint, others came back in.  
"I got us documents so we don't get in any trouble. Just stay cool.", Durbe told him when they arrived at the entrance which was completely impassable without a license - barbed wire and snipers everywhere.  
"Identification cards please."  
He handed out the documents to the soldier who was controlling every passenger who wanted to leave the district.  
"What do you want there?", he asked.  
Slick Kaito replied easily: "I have a day off, want to visit a friend."  
"Okay. You can go.", the soldier said and stepped away so they could pass.  
Suddenly a hand-grenade flew over the place behind the checkpoint entrance, hit a vehicle and caused an explosion which shattered the ground. Kaito and Durbe tripped back and tried to protect themselves from the metal pieces flying around.

"Fuck! Shut the entrance!", a soldier behind them shouted. The soldiers opened the fire on their attackers.

"Arclights!"  
"We have to get out of here!", Durbe insisted and they turned around and left as fast as they could. The alarm was sounding over the whole district.  
"Warning! Checkpoint Five is temporary closed. Every civilian has to leave the area immediately."  
"Fucking Arclights.", Kaito swore and followed Durbe into a former hotel directly on their way back.  
"So much for the easy way. Let's go.", Durbe sighed. "They will shut every checkpoint so we have to use the way under it."  
"Behind the wall?", Kaito asked sceptically.  
"Or... we leave Heartland_ico_ in peace?", his partner chuckled.  
"Great idea.", Kaito muttered sarcastically.  
The halls were empty until they met one of Durbe's Latin American friends from his time before he met Kaito.  
"_Oye Durbe. ¿Agarras que-_"  
"_Sí, estuve ahí. _Is the east tube passable?", he replied, moving forward. His friend followed them.  
"Yes, I am just through it to come here. No patrol. I guess they have enough to trouble with checkpoint five."

The lights were flickering, the electrical power supplies were a mess in the non-military buildings.  
"What do you have in mind?"

"Visiting _señor Heartland-sin-cojones._"

"You too?"  
"Who else is searching for him?"  
"Eh... V Arclight. He asked me where he could be."

_V._  
"V? What does the Arclight Organisation want from that bastard?"

"As if V would tell me that."

"Ah. And what have _you_ told him?"  
"The truth. I don't fucking know where he is."  
"Wonderful. Be careful, the army will be here soon."

"See you later."  
Durbe's friend turned left to another corridor and left them alone.  
"So the Arclights are searching for Edward Heartland. What do you think about that?", Durbe asked Kaito with a little smirk.

"Doesn't sound good, we have to hurry and find him before those terrorists do it.", he muttered, ignoring the teasing undertone.

They finally arrived in a room near the backyard of the hotel, a man waiting on an old sofa. He was controlling who was going in and out through the not-so-legal-checkpoint.  
"Hey guys, what's up?", the man asked.  
"Arclights versus Army. Somebody blew up a tank in front of checkpoint five. What about here?", Durbe reported. He was more talkative than Kaito.

"Everything's fine, no soldiers, no Barian.", the man replied.

"Sounds very nice. Kaito, help me."  
Durbe pointed at the shelf on the left. They pulled it away and a big hole in the wall became visible, showing a deep dark way down which smelled of muddy water. Durbe jumped down and Kaito followed him into the darkness. The free fall was short and they were landing on a sandy ground. The sound of a generator broke the silence of the abandoned basement.  
"Urgh, they should think about what they are throwing away.", Durbe complained in a low voice and Kaito could hear him moving.

"Let there be light!"  
His partner had found the light switch and they could see finally a thing in this darkness.  
From the hotel's basement the smugglers, dealers and every other person who wasn't pleased with the dictatorship of the army dug a tunnel within the years to escape the borders of barbed wire and soldiers everywhere.

They connected nearly every building under the quarantine zone and some ways even were heading outside the zone, but those were very dangerous because of the army and infected.  
He followed Durbe to the basement of the next building. An artisan's table was standing in the corner of the small room on which their rucksacks still were laying.  
"Do we have enough munitions?", Kaito asked his partner, checking his gun if it still had enough.  
"Not really. Better targeting is needed though.", he replied, reloading his own gun.  
They left the basement and climbed up a plateau to the next 'door' to the outside, leaving the darkness behind them and climbing out a hole in the floor of an abandoned pizzeria.  
Nature was claiming their old property. Plants were growing in the middle of the building, dust and mould covered the room.

The street outside didn't exist anymore. The grass dominated the ground, an old car was laying in the middle of a little pond which arose from all the rain.  
Kaito remembered the street before everything became hell. It was... full of people in those days.  
"You are so dreamy today. What is wrong with you?", Durbe asked ans raised an eyebrow.

Kaito shook his head and followed his friend to the house on the other side of the 'street'.  
"Where the fuck is the ladder?"  
"Can you please stop swearing all day long.", Kaito demanded and stepped through the high grass, helping his partner to find the ladder they needed to climb up the building. The whole way from their district to the docks was an up and down through a completely abandoned and for fifteen years untouched part of the city of Heartland. The man they were searching for was in his mid-fifties, an unfaithful liar and son of a bitch but was the last living descendant of the old and famous Heartland family who built up this city centuries ago. _What a shame for them._ Their origin was American, the only city in Japan with a foreign name. Kaito was still wondering why the Japanese government never changed its name because they used to change literally everything which wasn't Japanese but stayed here.  
"Says the one who swears on the same level.", Durbe replied unimpressed and leant the ladder against the wall and climbed up to the hole.  
Kaito sighed and followed him. The first floor was an even worse mess than the pizzeria. People had smeared names and insulting comments all over the walls, shreds and scales of wood were littered all over the floor and they had to be careful not to break through the moulding floor.

They were walking over the scrap carefully, through the old flat to the stairs which had collapsed years ago so they had to jump the last ½ feet down to the ground floor. Everything became dark again because all the windows were nailed up with wooden boards and similar things. Kaito pulled out a small pocket lamp so they could see a thing in this darkness.  
A blurred sign of the Arclights was still visible on one of the walls.  
They had left this city years ago. For whatever reason they came back to Heartland Quarantine Zone... _It couldn't be just Edward_.  
Kaito stepped forward on guard, it was very dangerous outside, especially in those dark places.  
Everything seemed to be fine until he suddenly felt the _heat. _  
He raised an arm a bit to hold Durbe back. "It's spreading here."  
Durbe understood and they stopped, getting gas masks out of their rucksacks and putting them on. A single particle of the Lapis could kill them.  
Then they entered the room. Shades of every colour you could imagine blurred their view, so many particles of the Lapis were in the air. It was hot, the big crystals were glowing in red and orange like a warning signal as if they entered hell.  
It was beautiful but still deadly. A single touch could kill them. They had to be very careful with walking through the room.  
"Where the hell does this one come from?", Kaito whispered and wove himself around the deadly Lapis to reach a hole in the wall which connected this house with its neighbouring.  
"I don't know. Maybe from outside...", Durbe replied quietly, following him through the hole. "Well, I guess we found the problem.", he mentioned and pointed at the dead body of an infected.  
Kaito didn't answer, he walked through the tunnel to to where wooden planks blocked the way and tried to remove them, when suddenly hard dirt fell down from the ceiling and he jumped back for not to get hit by the scrap.  
"Fuck! The bloody ceiling is coming down, be careful."

Then he squeezed his way through the small entrance to the next house, Durbe following him.  
The particles of the Lapis were everywhere, the entire house seemed to be completely full of it. They were walking through the house nearly blinded from it - Kaito didn't see the corpse on the floor and stumbled – probably the person was hit by the scrap coming down from the ceiling and died.  
"Fuck...", he mumbled and stepped forward.  
It was uncommonly silent for a fresh infected place, they had to be careful.  
Kaito stopped and hunkered down so he could harken for unusual sounds, Durbe did the same. And then they heard _them_.  
Guttural sounds from fresh infected, muted but still audible.  
Kaito pulled out his gun and slowly moved to the open door. One of the fresh infected was holding his hands in front of their eyes. _At first they loose the ability to see, their eyes start to become a red shimmer because the Lapis is spreading in their head. _But they weren't completely blind yet in this stadium.  
If there was only one he could simply strangle him. He put the gun back and sneaked up to the infected, his breath was low so it could not hear him. Then Kaito grabbed the infected with his arms, it groaned and tried to fight against him but Kaito was strong, he strangled it within seconds and the dead body fell on the floor.  
Death was usual. Killing what was dangerous for you was normal.  
He didn't care anymore. He didn't even question it.  
Durbe followed him. There could be more than just this one. They moved forward silently, trying not to step on the scrap scattered around so that infected couldn't locate them.  
In the mist of Lapis particles they could only discover their shadows in a small distance. The next room was empty and it became a little bit colder. The exit wasn't far away anymore, just two or three rooms they had to pass.  
Durbe slowly opened the door to the next dark room and checked if there was anything near them. They couldn't see but hear them, two or three infected were in this room. They could hear them ripping flesh out of a body. _They ate it_. The sound was disgusting...  
But as long as they were eating they wouldn't notice them as long as they were silent.  
Durbe moved forward, not lowering his gun. Kaito waited a moment until he followed him. One of the infected raised its head and froze in its action, but it seemed to be already blind...  
It should work to walk around them. They did that a lot, even though they both of them didn't like the idea but sometimes it was the best they could do in their situation.  
Durbe slipped through the next door when suddenly a piece of metal fell from somewhere next to Kaito on the floor. It weren't even seconds between shock and attack. Guttural screams and gun shots filled the silence with ear-battering noise, blood and Lapis splinters mixed up with the thick mist.  
"Fuck...", Durbe gasped. You could have been used to it but the fear was always there. The fear of getting killed by them.  
"Calm down... I am okay.", Kaito replied, his breath was a bit heavier too.  
"The stairs must be after this corridor anyway.", he added and moved on. It was just a few more corridors they had to pass and luckily there were no more infected in this house.  
Rays of light were breaking through the mist of dark coloured particles when they finally arrived at the stairs which leaded them outside.  
Durbe followed him up the broken steps until they could see the hole in the wall. They jumped easily down into the grass, particles were still raining down the wall.  
There didn't exist any street in this abandoned city which hadn't lost the fight against nature, the grey of the streets lost ground in all the deep greens.

Kaito felt the high and wet grass dancing around his legs with every step he took.  
They finally arrived at the border. Big, gunmetal grey and around 65 feet tall the wall reached ominous into the sky, casting a dark cloud over the streets and buildings around it.

The wall was built – in contrary to the wall which divided the former and now abandoned Heartland Amusement Park from the city – directly after the outbreak to insulate the Infected from the Quarantine Zones.  
However, due to the illegal escape routes, the lack of hygiene and too many people crowded in a too small place were the perfect conditions for Baria and other viruses to spread in the zones as well.  
It was only a question of time until the rest of humanity would vanish from Earth completely.  
He followed Durbe through a small alley between the houses into a savaged backyard where they could get into the 'other world' – The Black Market of Heartland's Quarantine Zone. Kaito opened the basement door of a one of the houses and Durbe followed him.  
The room was dark and full of dust and only a small door separated them from the smugglers' illegal district far away from the Checkpoint.  
Before entering the district Durbe knocked on the door and waited until a child opened it.  
"Hey sweetie, can you check for us if everything is okay? No soldiers, no guards from Heartland_ico_.", Durbe said softly and offered him a food ration card. The child nodded, took it and closed the door.

"You know that he's waiting for us.", Kaito mentioned, crossed his arms and leaned against a desk behind him.  
"That makes it more interesting.", his friend replied.  
The child came back and knocked on the window to give them a sign that the coast was clear.

Durbe smiled and tapped the boy on his shoulder before they left the dusty room and stepped into dirty sunlight.  
The black market was full of people. Weapons, clothing and on some booths even food was traded – from the little amount they had of course.

"_¡Oye Durbe!_"  
Again one of Durbe's Latin American comrades tried to get him into a conversation but he shoved him off.  
"Not now.", he demanded and walked past him and gave him a glare when his comrade tried to get in his way.

Kaito followed him, ignoring the mixed glares of antipathy and insecurity they were giving him.  
He never talked to them, he was just there with Durbe and over the years they'd given him the caption _El alma lúgubre_ which meant something like "the darkest soul" - Durbe told him they used _lúgubre _because it could be translated as 'grey and drab' which connected to his own nickname 'Silvergrey' he had when he was working as a dealer.  
And somehow Kaito had to admit that he liked that name, it simply described who he was: Nothing more than Durbe's second shadow.

"Touching means you have to buy it.", he heard one of the weapon dealers saying when they were walking through the street.  
"Durbe, long time no see. You are not here very often.", another man sitting on a plastic chair next to his booth greeted them. "Who's this?", a woman next to him whispered and gave Kaito a frightened gaze which he ignored as always.  
"That's none of your business.", Durbe replied with a cold undertone and moved forward.

Somewhere behind the booths they could hear children cheering for somebody. Probably a fight, they did that a lot to train their younger ones for the hard life they had. An old burnt bus was standing in the middle of street which became something like a doorway to the docks where Edward was hiding. Kaito stepped into it when another tall Latino man thwarted him and said with a provocative voice: "Where do you think you wanna go, huh?"

"Let him go, Gabriel.", Durbe told the man off when he followed Kaito into the bus.  
"_O, ¿él está contigo?_", the man replied and Durbe nodded. "Nevermind, you can go.", he said and sat down back on the driver's seat.  
When they left the bus Kaito looked at Durbe and raised an eyebrow. "Who was that?", he asked. He knew that Durbe was well known in the Underground, but Kaito never met Gabriel before.  
"... an old comrade, don't ask.", Durbe sighed and walked past him.

"You know too many people." - "Maybe."  
They turned right to an alley where a gloomy looking man leaning against a wall as if he was waiting for them. Durbe came close to him and showed him a food ration card. "Where is Edward? Was he around?", he whispered. The man took the card as if it was naturally and replied: "Half an hour ago. He's back to the pier now."

Durbe gave him a little smirk and they moved on in direction to the docks.  
Arclight signs were scrawled over the walls around them. _Follow the Light_.  
They turned left to a small backyard in which supplies packed in wooden boxes were literally scattered around.  
"Oh, what we got have here. The _Silvergrey_ and his shadow.", they were greeted by a group of heavily built men of different origin but with the same unsavoury look – Heartland's guards.  
"Let us pass.", Durbe demanded with a low voice, trying not to sound like he wanted to start a fight.  
The man in front of him sneered. "_Amigo_, let me tell you something: Either you and your watchdog move your asses out of this district or I will shank you here. What do you think about that?"  
"This is none of your business, we just want to see Heartland, so calm down.", Durbe replied a bit louder.  
"I won't repeat myself again, get out.", the man said unimpressed.  
Kaito knew already how this conversation would turn out in the end and he already checked their surroundings in the corner of his eyes. The wooden boxes would help them.  
"I won't leave _without_ Heartland.", Durbe insisted.  
"_Filho da puta_, I kill you if you don't turn your fucking ass around and leave _now_!"

Durbe shrugged.

"Fuck off."

And then he and Kaito immediately pulled out their guns and opened fire, killing the front man with the first shots.  
The other ones hided themselves behind the boxes, so Kaito and Durbe did and started to fight. Kaito killed the next one while Durbe reloaded his gun and rushed behind the next box to come closer to their enemies. It was a short fight, he and Durbe were simply used to it while the others obviously weren't.  
Probably they were dealers, they didn't leave their district that often like the smugglers did.  
Kaito checked their dead bodies for more munitions. "Where did he get all those guards?", he wondered while searching the dead ones' pockets for useful stuff.  
"If there is something Heartland is good at, then it is giving empty promises.", Durbe chuckled and checked another body as well.  
"Let's go."  
Kaito followed him around the labyrinthine narrow streets, climbing up on fences and jumping down a plateau just to find more of Edward's guards.  
"I heard that this _Silvergrey_ is searching for Heartland." - "Yes, he and his shadow friend killed some of our people. Why did I even say yes to this job, we are screwed." - "For the weapons of course. Well, let's check if nobody is wandering around here."  
_Fast and silent._  
Nearly synchronous Kaito and Durbe sneaked up to the two guards, stabbing them with little knives they were carrying in their vests for fast and quiet murder.  
Blood was running over Kaito's hands but he couldn't care less. It was an everyday thing. And soon he would see that bastards' blood all over the ground.  
They sneaked into the open warehouse in front of them which would lead them to the pier. Another two guards were walking around in the room next to them, and Kaito eavesdropped what they were talking about.  
"... with five civilians." - "Let me guess – Arclights?" - "Yeah, advanced them on the wall and – Bam Bam Bam – executed all of them." - "Hell."

Durbe sneaked next to the door and whispered: "This guy is mine and the other one is yours."  
Kaito nodded while stealing a First Aid Kit lying around on the desk next to him.  
"Shit man, my cousin is a supporter of them." - "Then your cousin is pretty fucked." - "That idiot thinks he can save the world. I hope he's still alive."  
Kaito slowly sneaked into the room behind the desks and checked if Durbe was able to reach his victim at the same time as he did. It was a question of seconds. They both grabbed the guards down and strangled him with no mercy.

The warehouse was big. Just two halls later five more guards were discussing Edward Heartland's weird behaviour he was showing the last few days.  
"With how many more people does he want to mess?", Durbe mumbled with a little smirk while sneaking around them to the stairs so they could avoid another confrontation. "How should I know?", Kaito muttered uninterested and followed Durbe back down the stairs on the other side of the warehouses' halls to get to garage door which should finally lead them to their target.

It was quite difficult to open it without making noise but somehow none of the guards heard them escaping out of their view.  
A soft breeze from the sea blew through their hair and clothes when they hid behind a broken wall to check out their new battlefield.  
"The two of us against ten of the losers who give trust in you, Heartland_ico_, well done.", Durbe remarked and giggled a bit.  
"And then there he is.", Kaito added and pointed at their target. Edward Heartland, his green hair became greyish over the years and he was wearing something which was once a suit. He was tall but a weak figure and not able to defend himself anyway. The only thing he could really do was trying to hide behind a wall of guards. But that wouldn't stop Durbe and Kaito from hunting him.  
"Let's have some fun."  
They jumped over the small wall down behind a supply box when nobody was watching and checked out who they were going to get down first. When one of the guards wasn't looking in their direction Durbe didn't wait any longer, he sneaked behind and killed him without batting an eye.  
Heartland stopped talking to his guard and turned around back into an office container.  
"There aren't many supplies incoming yet... I don't know what we can sell anymore. Seriously, this is why we have to do these bloody guarding jobs." - "Damn you, Heartland. If you don't give us new supplies..."  
"Seems that he is _really_ overdoing it with his empty promises.", Durbe whispered with a smirk, when they got nearer to their second victim.  
"That asshole has to be careful what he promises. I mean, we are not the only smugglers who are doing those jobs. When there is nothing to sell anymore, what else is left to do?"  
Kaito slowly walked behind a container until he was able to reach the guard in front of him, pulled him down and strangled him as fast as he could. It was really dangerous here, if one of them would be seen they were dead in seconds. They both were used to situations like those but it was a game with their lives at the same time. Slowly they moved forward, always aware not to do a wrong step.  
It wasn't easy. It never was but this thing had to be done. They couldn't afford an open fire. Durbe's grey clothes were soaked in blood already, after killing so many of them with his knife. He was surely a master of silent death and he looked scary with his whole underarms covered with the dark red liquid.

It was surely a miracle when they finally reached the container in which Heartland was hiding without running into a dangerous trap.

Durbe pulled out a key he got from one of the bodies to open the containers' door.  
"Ready?"  
Kaito nodded, pulling out his gun. Then they opened the entrance to the lion's cave.  
The first room was empty. Over a table Duel Monster cards were scattered around, but everything seemed to be fine. Still careful they drew near the second door to the office in which Heartland seemed to hide. He didn't even know that his stupid guards were dead.  
Kaito opened the door and jumped back when Heartland opened the fire on him. "Stay back, asshole!", the man screamed.  
"We only want to talk, Edward.", Durbe replied with a smirk on his lips, hiding as well on the wall next to the door.  
"There is _nothing_ to talk about, Durbe!", Heartland cried hysterically.  
"I'll give you a chance when you drop the gun.", Durbe said with a serious voice, but the other one fired a second shot on them and stroke the door case.  
"Leave me alone!", the older one bellowed, threw the empty gun on the floor and ran for the sake of his life through the backdoor of the container into the empty factory behind them, Kaito and Durbe close on his heels.  
For his age Heartland was really agile, but not fast enough.  
"Heartland!", Kaito shouted. "Screw you, Tenjou!", Heartland snapped and jumped over the stairs to the next hall. It was a labyrinth and of course Heartland had a visible advantage over them but he wasn't able to leave them behind.  
The man maybe felt secure with luring them into the factory. Kaito reached an open window and jumped easily over it, still hearing the older ones steps vanishing and suddenly stopping when he found himself in a dead end.  
"Fuck.", he cried out.  
Durbe appeared next to Kaito's side and greeted him with a very unsatisfied undertone: "Hello Edward."

Heartland stopped trying to unlock the grid door, turned around and replied with a unimpressive guilty voice: "Durbe. Tenjou Kaito. I hope you don't resent me that but-"  
"Oh, I don't understand?", Durbe interrupted him ironically and grabbed an iron rod lying on the ground with a triumphant smirk on his face. Heartland tried to run into the other direction but he underestimated the smaller one's reaction speed – Durbe simply hit Heartland's legs with the iron rod, the man stumbled and fell down on the ground. Durbe threw his weapon on the floor and smiled. "I missed you.", he said sarcastically and folded his arms, giving their victim a death glare.  
Kaito leaned against the wall and watched them without any facial expression.  
"Listen, everything they are talking is bullshit, I can explain-"

"The weapons. Do you wanna tell us where they are?", Durbe asked.  
"It is complicated.", Heartland tried to whitewash himself, but now Kaito joined the little torture. "N-no, let me finish speaking-", Heartland begged.  
Kaito didn't listen, he struck out and kicked his feet into that bastards' stupid face, kneeled down and pulled Heartland's right arm into the perfect position to break it with his bare hands. "Stop, stop!", the helpless man cried but none of them felt even a hint of something like pity for him.  
"Oh god, stop whining. What did you want to say again?", Durbe laughed and kneeled down next to Kaito.  
He already gave him a pretty wound in his ugly face.  
"I-I sold them. I had no choice, I had debts to pay back-"  
"_¿Perdón? _Yes, you have debts to pay back – to _us._ I guess you fucked up pretty much everything you can."  
"I just need more time... give me a week.", Heartland begged, but Durbe was merciless. For a good reason.  
"Oh, I would give you that – _if you hadn't tried to kill me._"

"Please-"  
"_Who has our weapons?!_", he demanded.  
Heartland sighed before he begged again. "I-I can't... I need ti- Ahh!"  
Kaito broke his arm. He had enough of this bullshit. Durbe repeated his question once again.  
The man on the ground was coiling up because of the pain and whimpered before he finally gave them the needed information. "Arclights... The Arclights have them."  
Durbe caught Kaito's gaze, shook his head and hissed: "I hope you are kidding me, _Eduardo_."  
"N-no, listen: They are nearly dead. I- we can assail them and you can have back your weapons, what do you think? Heh?", Heartland tried to convince them. Kaito and Durbe stood up, Durbe shook his head and levelled his gun.  
"That is the biggest bullshit I ever heard in my whole life."  
And then he shoot Heartland into his stupid face.

Kaito sighed. "What now?", he asked his partner, not entirely sure if that was the right decision Durbe made. Blood was covering the ground.  
"We get our weapons back from them."

"And how are you going to do this?"  
There he got Durbe stuck. "I-I don't know yet, we maybe explain it to them-"

Kaito folded his arms, raising an eyebrow to show him that this wasn't a real plan.  
"Let's search for them."  
"Well, you don't need to search us anymore. I am already here.", a deep powerful voice interrupted them.

Kaito and Durbe turned around. There was a tall man leaning against the wall, holding his arms on a fresh wound on his stomach. His hair was falling around his shoulders, it was a bright platinum blonde, nearly white while his fringe had soft pastel colours of turquoise and lilac. Strong cold blue eyes burned themselves into Kaito's mind when their view touched his face.

"My name is V."

If they wanted to get their weapons back they had to work for him, he said. V wasn't someone to argue with. He was strict and had an influence on them which was almost scary. His wound seemed not to matter for him, he was very strong in his will and still looked impressive in his condition. It was simply amazing, he had to admit it. Kaito only knew him from the wanted posters before, V's expression was so strong already on them but in seeing it in reality was another thing. But the impression didn't make him sympathetic for Kaito. No, V _wasn't _sympathetic. He was so dominant, it was annoying. Only _his_ word had a value. And they felt it both.

V wasn't happy to see that they killed his dealer, even though he obviously bought something which wasn't meant for him. He didn't care and he demanded Durbe not to try to fight him. So they helped him now to escape from the soldiers who did their patrol around the docks. God bless they didn't know the black market.  
However, they had to escape over the roofs of abandoned houses, ways Durbe nor Kaito knew.  
"What do we have to smuggle for you?", Durbe asked. Kaito didn't want to exchange a word with V.  
"I tell you when we arrive.", V replied and ended the conversation with it.  
"Where the hell are we going?"

"You don't have to know."  
The head of the Arclight Terror Orgnisation Group climbed into the attic of one of the houses and pulled out a radio unit. "Everything alright with you? III? IV?", he called other Arclights.  
A few seconds later the voice of a young man replied: "Yes, Nii-sama. We could escape, but we lost the rest of our group."  
"I am with III. God, those idiots were burning, I love this job.", another man replied laughing after III.  
V muttered something in a different language and then replied. "IV, I said _diversionary tactics_, not blowing up a bloody tank."

"Let me have some fun, okay?", IV replied. V sighed. "Not in this voice, dear little brother."

Then he turned back to the smugglers. "When we are through this, I will show you the supply I have to smuggle out of the city. After that we talk about your payment." "Where is it?", Durbe asked.  
"Under the bridge.", V said, pointing in western direction.  
"There will be a patrol right now and without your help I cannot go there. This supply is _very important_, I cannot afford to lose it."  
Finally Kaito decided to talk. "That means, we are playing your bodyguards right now."  
V smiled a bit. "No, not really. You are my secret weapon."

They left the building and climbed down the fire stairs to the other side of the docks, leaving the harbour behind them.  
The bridge was very close, it were not even hundred metres to the stairs, but patrols were walking around it.  
The curfew came into effect already and everyone who was found outside their home now was in danger because the soldiers simply killed everyone who was violating the rules of their military dictatorship.  
"Kill them as silently as you can.", V commanded them and they had no other choice than sneaking up to the patrols and stabbing or strangling them.  
V told them who they had to kill first in which second – his instructions were correct, everything worked well without them getting in fire.  
He was a perfect strategist and leader.

When they arrived under the bridge he told Durbe to open the door to a warehouse Under the bridge was a door to another warehouse basement, and when they closed the door V told them to barricade the door so no soldiers could get in easily.  
"Where the hell are we going, V?", Durbe asked, now with a severe voice.  
V had to sit down for a bit. He could act as strong and cool as he wanted, the wound wasn't just a scratch, obviously he got shot when he tried to escape the soldiers. "Just... a moment. We are there soon. It is here.", he gasped, holding his wound tighter.  
"Are you alright?"  
V nodded weakly, his skin was losing a bit of colour. "I can walk. When I show you your weapons I will get aid from my brothers. We will meet them there."

He stood up, groaning because of the pain spreading in his body but he moved forward as if nothing was wrong.  
"Attention. The curfew is now is going into effect. Who is found without a valid pass is going to be arrested and condemned."  
They could hear the warning everywhere. Hall after hall came, and V didn't mention anything until they had had to leave the building and hurry to the door of the next one because soldiers were way too near them and they could be seen easily.  
They found themselves in a gloomy room full of old kitchen furniture. "That is it?", Durbe asked, but V moved on. "Next room.", he whispered, he finally gave up trying to hide that he was exhausted.  
"Can you open the door, please?", he asked Kaito and leant against the wall next to the door. It wasn't a question. He was commanding him again.  
Kaito swallowed his sigh and opened it for him. There was light in this room.

"_Крис!_"

He nearly jumped from the chair when after hours somebody opened the door. But it wasn't Christopher. A man, completely dressed in black with dirty blond and dark greenish messy hair and cold grey eyes which pierced through his whole body like sharp needles stood in front of him.  
He froze in his moving and asked him with a serious voice: "_Где Крис?_"  
The man stepped back and he could breathe out easily when he saw his friend next to the stranger. But his happiness crumbled again when he saw the wound.  
"_Боже мой, ты в порядке?_", he asked and was dragged into a soft hug.  
"_Да, не волнуйтесь, Заня._ I am alright, Mihael will help me recovering.", Chris replied, still holding his wound.  
Another stranger entered the room, he was a bit taller than the other one, but his clothing was covered in blood. Still, he looked less scary.  
"_Кто они?_", he asked Chris.  
"So, now you are recruiting children, too?", the man in the black coat asked Chris in japanese, he sounded amused.  
"Mizael is not an Arclight.", Chris replied to the man, stroking his hair gently.  
"_Что случилось?_", Mizael asked.  
"_Zanya_. Those people don't know your language, so can you please talk japanese when they are here?", Chris called upon him to follow his request. Mizael slowly nodded, even though he didn't like them to understand what he said. They were strangers.

"Who are they?", he asked, and felt instantly embarrassed because of his accent.

"They will help us. But I cannot come with you.", Chris explained him the situation and giving him a weak but sad smile.  
"B-but I can't – I will stay when you don't go with me.", Mizael replied but Chris didn't listen. "This is the only chance we have, Zanya.", he said with a severe voice and patted his shoulder.

"Wait a second.", the blond stranger interrupted them. "You want us to smuggle _her_?"  
"I am a boy.", Mizael snapped. He knew he didn't really look like one with his long blond hair he was wearing in a pony tail and his voice was still the voice of a child, but there was nothing even more embarrassing (next to people correcting his pronunciation) than misgendering him as female.

"A group of Arclights will meet you at the town hall.", Chris told the stranger.  
The other stranger now joined the conversation. "Town hall? That is very far away!", he told him.  
"You will manage that, Durbe. Bring him there, come back and you will get your weapons. The doubled amount of weapons Edward Heartland had. That's the deal. ", Chris said.  
"When you are talking about it already: Where are the weapons?", Durbe asked him, not quite happy with the deal yet.  
"In our storage."  
Durbe sighed. "I won't move a finger before I haven't seen them with my own eyes."

Chris straightened up and stood in front of him to emphasise his authority even more, Mizael clinging on his arm.  
"You will go with me, so you can test the weapons while I am getting first aid. But Mizael won't go into this part of the city."  
His view wandered from Durbe to the other stranger. "I want Kaito to take care of him."

The blond stranger looked confused and replied: "Oh no no no, no way. I won't-"  
"Bullshit! I won't stay with him!", Mizael interrupted them and felt like Chris pushed him off a cliff. It was disgusting. How could the person who cared all the time for him suddenly decide to give him into the custody of a complete stranger, who additionally looked like he could kill people with his bare glance?

Mizael wanted to cry, but his pride would never allow it. Instead he fought back.  
"Zanya, please..."  
Chris worried about him. His face became soft when he looked at Mizael and hugged him again to calm him down. "Where... where do you know them from?", Mizael whispered into his hair.

"I know his friend Shark... no, Ryouga Kamishiro.", Chris told them with a serious voice while looking at Kaito. "He told me... when I need help, I can count on him."

Mizael was unsure about how Chris could think that. Kaito didn't look trustworthy for him. But when Chris said so, it must be true. He was always right.

Kaito shook his head and nearly laughed. "Before or after he left your strike force?", he joked, but it didn't sound funny. More like he was insulting that person they were talking about. And insulting the Arclight Organisation. He was rude.  
But Chris ignored his comment and replied: "He left you as well. Shark was a good person and I am sad that he left Arclight."

Durbe dragged Kaito away and whispered with a sharp voice: "Listen. You bring him to the northern tunnel and you wait for me, okay?"

"You gotta have to be fucking kidding me...", Kaito mumbled and tried to avoid looking Durbe into the eyes.  
"He's just ware as everything else we smuggled.", his partner added.  
Mizael could hear them and it made him feel even more uncomfortable.  
"Chris, really-"  
"No backtalk, Mizael.", the older one interrupted his talk. "Everything will be okay. And now go with him."  
Kaito gave Durbe a glare. "You better come back fast. And you-", he turned to Mizael. "Let's go."  
He didn't want to, and he was nearly to tears when Chris pushed him softly in Kaito's direction. That was a farewell. A farewell he didn't want. Not again.

"So, where are you taking me?", the child tried to start a conversation.  
A child. He had to smuggle a goddamn child. What the hell came into his mind to accept this job... well, it was Durbe's decision but why _him_?  
"Northern tunnel. We will wait for Durbe to come back before we go to the town hall.", he replied, not even looking at him.  
Dead bodies were lying on the streets. They had to be careful, soldiers could be everywhere. He could hear the child complaining behind him and he wished that there was a mute button for him. At least it wasn't that far away to go. They hurried down the steps to another backyard, the passing trucks couldn't see them from this place. "Hurry.", he commanded. "Yeah, I am following you man.", the child replied bugged. He couldn't tell his age, but he was young – what was his name again, Miza-_what_? And V called him Zanya.  
Something like that. It was an odd name; he heard a lot of Latino American names so far but never one like this. And it seemed that the child was from a complete different place, the language he spoke before was harsh and strong and not as melodic and full of joy like Durbe's spanish was.

They arrived in another backyard of a bigger apartment building.  
Kaito checked for something to climb up to the fire stairs which would lead them to the tunnel – the lower part was destroyed years ago.  
He found a rubbish container behind a wall and pushed it in front of the stairs. "I hope you can climb.", he said to the child and arranged himself on the container.  
For his luck the child followed him without having problems up to the stairs.  
"Are you smuggling things through this tunnel?"

The questioning started. Stupid children who wanted to know everything. Perfect for his mood.  
"Yes.", he shortly answered.

"Illegal things as well?" - "Sometimes." - "Have you ever smuggled... a child?" - "No, not yet."

But he wondered what the hell this child had to do with V Arclight.  
If the child could ask him questions, he could do that too.  
"Tell me Mizae_ru_, why were you with V?"  
The child sighed. "It's Mizae_l_. And - I don't really know... I guess he is a friend... somehow."

"So you are friends with the most wanted person worldwide, interesting. How old are you, eleven? Twelve?" -

"Well, he knew my parents and... he kinda cares about me, so. And I am fourteen, even though my age doesn't matter when I am only _ware_." - "Fourteen and no change of voice yet?"  
Mizael stopped for a moment and clenched his wrists before he snapped: "Заткнись!"

Kaito turned around in his walk and laughed at him. "You don't have to snap at me in other languages, I know you insulted me anyway."  
"You don't even know what I said, you Japanese people are too stupid for foreign languages.", Mizael fought against him.

"What if I don't care.", Kaito replied sharply.  
"I don't either."  
Mizael was stubborn and seemed to have a lot of pride. Too much for Kaito's taste.  
He would be happy after getting rid of him.  
"And what are your parents saying about you hanging out with terrorists instead of going to school?", he teased him more. To be honest, it was fun to mock the child.  
"They are dead.", Mizael replied as if he was talking about the weather. "For a long time now. I don't have a family. And the Arclights aren't terrorists. They try to save the world. And if you wanna know why you have to smuggle, well I have to disappoint you – I am not allowed to tell you that."  
"They think they can. And do you know what I love about my job? I don't need to know anything and to be honest I don't give a shit about your existence.", Kaito muttered. But somehow it gave him a little stitch in his heart when Mizael told him about his family. They had one thing in common: The loneliness.

"... who else really has a family.", Mizael murmured.

Kaito fell silent. All the flats were locked except the last one. "Here is it.", he told Mizael and opened the door.  
They entered a small living room in which's middle a couch was standing. Kaito literally threw himself on it and closed his eyes, trying to forget the little pain in his heart he felt right now.  
"Uhm, what does that mean now.", Mizael complained when Kaito tried to ignore his existence as well.  
"Killing time, what does it look like to you?", he replied and yawned.  
"You trying to ignore my existence."  
Kaito smirked. Mizael wasn't that stupid.  
"But what should I do now while you ignore me?"

"I can't hear you." - "Of course you do."  
Mizael walked past him. "By the way, your watch is broken."

_Same as my heart. Thank you for reminding._

»_Er konnte sich an den Schmerz erinnern_.« 


End file.
